SBI Destroyed Some Materials With Classified Information

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) at the beginning of the hot phase of the war destroyed some materials with classified information.

This was reported to Ukrainian News Agency in the SBI.

"At the beginning of the hot phase of Russia's war against Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation, like other law enforcement agencies, destroyed only those individual material carriers of classified information regarding which there were relevant legislative requirements regulated by the "Procedure for organizing and ensuring secrecy in state bodies, local governments, enterprises, institutions and organizations," the bureau said.

Approval of prosecutors to destroy such documents is required only in peacetime, while the destruction of classified information under martial law does not provide for this.

At the same time, the SBI opened criminal proceedings on the fact of interference in its work.

"During the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, some figures are engaged in undermining the situation in the country and disseminating false information about the work of the state's law enforcement system. In particular, they are trying to destabilize the work of the State Bureau of Investigation. To do this, false information about the alleged destruction by the Bureau of materials of public resonance criminal proceedings is thrown into the information field. Since such actions may contain signs of a criminal offense, investigators of the SBI, according to the materials of the Internal Control Department, opened criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Art. 343 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (interference in the activities of a law enforcement officer, forensic expert, state executive service employee, private executor)," the SBI said.

The Bureau added that the actions of the SBI in no way affect the quality and completeness of the investigation of any criminal proceedings.

"The Bureau's accusation of allegedly baseless destruction of important material complicating the further investigation of high-profile cases is untrue. The purpose of such messages is to discredit the Bureau in wartime conditions and unbalance the entire law enforcement system, as well as to remove from responsibility individual officials and officials who have committed illegal actions or inaction," the Bureau emphasized.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the State Bureau of Investigation denies media information about the destruction of materials from a number of high-profile criminal cases, in particular the case of the Kharkiv Agreements and the Coal Case (against Verkhovna Rada Member Viktor Medvedchuk and former President Petro Poroshenko).